Until now, prominent members of
Quebec's francophone community have not taken a public stand on
the latest round of James Bay dams. In the fall, a coalition of
artists, musicians, singers and actors came out in opposition to
the damming of Quebec's rivers, including the Rupert River. They
included academy-award-winning filmmaker Frederic Back (no
relation to this story's author) and documentary director Michel
Gauthier.

The group formed Rivers Foundation
and hopes to raise $2 million, according to La Presse. During
the earlier phases of the James Bay Project prominent
francophone Quebecers supported the project. Anyone who did not
was considered anti-Quebec.

August 21, 2003

Guidelines for
environmental assessment approved

The federal Minister of Environment
approved the plan that sets the structure and guidelines for the
environmental assessment of the Rupert River diversion and the
additional damming of the Eastmain River.

The directives were established
jointly between Quebec, Canada and the Crees with public
consultation in May and June. The proponents of the project, who
must prepare the assessment, are Hydro-Quebec and its
subsidiary, Société d'énergie de la Baie-James
(SEBJ), which constructs and
operates the James Bay power facilities.

Hydro-Quebec and SEBJ will begin
preparing the assessment. The final document will be reviewed by
a federal panel for conformity to a loose set of federal
environmental-assessment regulations.

The assessment must be completed and
approved before construction can begin.

July 8, 2003

Eastmain
listed as one of Canada's most endangered rivers

The 2003 list of the most endangered
rivers in Canada is out and the Eastmain is second.

Rupert Reverence has issued an open
invitation to join Crees and Québécois as they descend the
Rupert River from July 26 to August 18. The "pilgrimage" is a
show of support for keeping the river dam-free.

Participants must be self-sufficient
and may paddle any section of the route, which starts at the
Route du Nord highway and descends to the Cree village of
Waskaganish on James Bay.

Quebec's new premier, Jean Charest,
met with Cree chief Ted Moses and committed to resolving
disputes between the Crees and Quebec, according to a story in
today's Montreal Gazette.

Charest also committed his
government to support of the Peace of the Brave deal, which
covers new hydro-electric development, and was signed by
Charest's predecessor, Premier Bernard Landry.

The premier's commitment is
symbolically important. Liberal candidate Charest defeated
Péquiste Landry in the April 14 provincial election. Moses had
publicly committed support for Landry during the election
campaign. Charest had supported the Great Whale River
hydro-electric project that is specifically excluded in the
Peace of the Brave. While there is no agreement for its
development, neither is there one to prohibit it.

A second
northern Quebec environment group has stepped up to oppose the
Rupert diversion.

Boreal Action
Abitibi-Témiscamingue, based in northeastern Quebec, is headed
by singer-poet and filmmaker Richard Desjardins. The French
acronym for the group is ABBAT, which means slaughtering in
English.

April 13, 2003

Retracing the routes of mapmaker-explorer A. P. Low

Two Ottawa
outdoorsmen have gone to great lengths — at least 1,000 kilometres, in
fact, down the upper Eastmain and the Rupert — to give Albert Peter Low his due.
FULL STORY

March
26, 2003

Quebec
Liberal leader endorses Great Whale project

Jean
Charest said he would like to see the Great Whale River developed for
hydroelectric production, the Montreal Gazette reported yesterday.

Charest,
leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, said he would respect agreements with
native communities and environmental assessments. A predecessor, Robert
Bourassa, launched the James Bay hydroelectric project in the early 1970s.

Mario
Dumont, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec party, was more
forceful in his support for a Great Whale project.

The
Great Whale project was fiercely opposed by the Crees in the early 1990s
and was postponed indefinitely.

"If
Mr. Charest wants to build Great Whale, that's a big problem," Bill
Namagoose of the Grand Council of the Crees was quoted in the Gazette.
"Great Whale is from the Soviet era of megaprojects and those are the
projects we oppose totally – and I think Quebecers oppose projects on
that scale."

March
25, 2003

Chief
endorses Quebec separatist party

Cree
Grand Chief Ted Moses has endorsed Quebec's party of separation, the Parti
Québécois (PQ), in the upcoming provincial election, according to a
story in today's Montreal Gazette.

Moses
is quoted in the story denying he has gone separatist, saying it is
"about a democratic right to choose the government of the day."
The endorsement is a significant move as the Crees have been fiercely
federalist and opposed Quebec's separation.

Moses
said he could not support the other two parties as they intend to revive
hydro megaprojects.

March
19, 2003

Clear-cutting
approaches Rupert

Logging
encroaching on the Rupert River from the south was a factor that forced
Cree leadership to face the inevitable destruction of their traditional
lands. From their position, they felt that obtaining compensation was
preferable to sitting back and watching, and this led to signing the Peace
of the Brave, which included an agreement on the Rupert River diversion,
in February, 2002.

James
Stone, a wilderness canoeist, writer and researcher, presented this satellite image,
taken June 28, 2002, at Hulbert's Wilderness Paddlers Gathering in
Vermont. The lightest areas in the lower-right quarter are clear-cuts. The
north-south lines are hydro-electric transmission corridors and the Route
du Nord highway. The Rupert is in the top-left quarter, running east-west.

Photo: NASA

March
11, 2003

Construction
equipment moving on winter road

Construction
equipment and construction-camp facilities for the EM-1 powerhouse on the
Eastmain River have begun moving on a 90-kilometre winter road, according
to Don McLeod at Eeyou Istchee Consortium, a Cree agency.

The
winter road is a substitute for a Nemaska-to-EM-1, all-weather road behind
schedule. Fires last summer and unforeseen problems with wetlands and
eskers last fall disrupted construction. The road will be finished this
summer.

The
winter road is in the slashed clearing for the all-season road. It will be
open only until spring thaw when the ground will become soft. As
temperatures warm up, traffic will be restricted to morning travel and
then to just lighter vehicles.

The
EM-1 dam is not part of the environmental assessment now beginning.

Quebec
today announced five new protected areas in the southern portion of Cree
territory totaling 2,659 square kilometres, an area larger than Lake
Mistassini.

One
area called Muskuuchii,
or Bear Mountain, is a sacred site located just east of the confluence of the Harricana and Samson
rivers. It was included in the Peace of the Brave agreement and was
threatened by logging.

Also
protected are Mistikawatin
Peninsula, Boatswain Bay, Missisicabi Plain and the lower Harricana River,
all in Waskaganish First Nation territory, near or on the James Bay coast.
Mining (except existing diamond claims in Muskuuchii)
and logging will be banned while hunting and fishing will continue.

Grand
Chief Ted Moses of the Grand Council of the Crees sees some vindication
for signing the controversial Peace of the Brave. "We started with
one area and jointly decided to protect these other areas as well. This
was the implementation of the spirit of our new relationship with
Quebec."

Protected
area

Area
(sq km)

Muskuuchii
Hills

735

Mistikawatin
Peninsula

895

Boatswain
Bay

109

Missisicabi Plain

669

North
Harricana
River

251

March
4, 2003

Reverence
announces 2003 expeditions

This
summer environment group Rupert Reverence will run another round of
expeditions descending the Rupert and Eastmain rivers.

The
group is inviting the public to participate. Reverence opposes the damming
and diversion of northern Quebec waterways.

"Rupert
Reverenceagrees
with the general directorship of Hydro-Québec
on
at least one point:the
environmental-impact evaluation process is a waste of time and a waste of
public money.
For
different reasons, of course.

"We
have good reasons to doubt the worth of all this process.
Remember
that no hydro-electric project has ever been stopped in Quebec by the
public consultation process.
Also rememberthat theenvironmental
evaluation process provided for in the James Bay Agreement only provides
recommendations.
The
Minister of the Environment –and
the National Assembly–are
in no way bound by these recommendations
when
a decision is to be made concerning the realization or not of Hydro-Quebec’s
projects.
Already,
by a clause in the Cree-Quebec Agreement,
the
Grand Council of the Cree has consented not to publicly oppose the
undertaking of the projects.The
Quebec government gains important sums in revenue from the sale of
hydroelectricity outside Quebec.
Smaller
scale projects (the
Hertel-des
Cantons
line project, for example)
have
already been approved by the National Assemblydespite
unfavourable public opinion and court judgements.

The
leader of the Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party has
called for construction of massive new hydro development projects,
according to a story in yesterday's Montreal Gazette.

Mario
Dumont wants Quebec to take advantage of the vast wealth that could be
unleashed for the province by building giant dams. "He said 'real'
environmentalists and ecologists understand hydro development is in fact a
'green energy, which is good for the planet,'" the Gazette story
reported.

"I
am shocked by the statements of Mr. Dumont!" said Grand Chief Ted
Moses in a statement. "We will have no choice but to oppose such
development plans."

The
tiny right-wing ADQ party under "Super Mario" captured several
recent by-elections and has risen sharply in the polls, in the process
shaking up the balance of power in Quebec.

February
27, 2003

Environmental
assessment almost set to start

Quebec,
Canada and the Crees have agreed to the terms for the environmental
assessment of the Rupert River diversion. The process could begin as early
as spring.

The
environmental assessment is required by federal environmental-assessment
legislation and by the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, which
established the original James Bay hydroelectric projects over Cree
objection in 1975.

An
additional powerhouse on the Eastmain River, EM-1A will be covered by the
assessment. This powerhouse will receive diverted Rupert waters. EM-1, now
under construction, has undergone an environmental assessment.

The
entire project to be built by Hydro Quebec is estimated at $2 billion. It
calls for four dams, 51 dikes, 395-square-kilometre of flooded land, 12
kilometres of diversion channels or tunnels and two permanent access
roads.

The
agreement says the review will take no more than 20 months. On this
schedule, diversion construction will begin by December 2004 and be
completed by 2007.

The
public has 30 days to comment on the assessment agreement. Comment
information is available at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
website, as is the agreement.

APTN,
Canada's aboriginal television network, is airing a special on the
controversial 2002 agreement between Crees and Quebec, known as Peace of
the Brave, which opened the way to the Rupert River diversion. The episode
is part of APTN's Venturing Forth series.

APTN
airdate: Sunday, February 23

Time:
8 p.m. ET (also 12:30 a.m., Monday)

Network
Summary:It is the biggest agreement between aboriginals

and
government in world history: $3.5 billion over 50 years, and a share of
the benefits from natural resources taken from their land. Nine Cree
communities in Quebec voted on this deal on January 30, 2002. On the one
hand, the massive extension of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement
promises more Hydro-Quebec development and jobs for the Cree people. On
the other, the required diversion of the Rupert River and construction of
the Eastmain 1,200- megawatt power plant will decimate certain Cree trap
lines and disrupt lives, some believe at significant cost to the Cree
traditional way of life. When the deal was put to referendum, the
Venturing Forth cameras were there, and in this segment, we look at the
implications of this historical agreement for the communities involved.
From Chibougamau, to Nemaska, we spend time with the people behind the
headlines.

February
19, 2003

Log
and photos of 2002 river descent now online

A
large collection of logs and photos
on Camp Wabun's descent of the Rupert River, through the Archipelago via
Woollett Lake and the North Channel, is now online.

Wabun,
a youth canoe-trip camp on Lake Temagami in Ontario, has canoed the river
a number of times since 1963.

Cree
trapper Paul Dixon has seen southerners troop through his family hunting
grounds to clear-cut the trees, dig mines and hunt animals. But he never
expected a howitzer testing range to be built in the heart of his family's
ancestral land.

That
is just what Canada's largest munitions company is proposing to do in a
swath of land starting 25 kilometres southwest of Chapais, where three
Dixon hunting territories meet.

The
$1.5-million, 20-kilometre-long range would be the first privately owned,
long-range artillery test site in Canada. SNC Technologies, a subsidiary
of engineering giant SNC-Lavalin, proposes to use the site to test
105-millimetre shells it manufactures for the Canadian Forces and NATO.
The booming of howitzers could start this summer.

The
company would gate off up to 60 square kilometres of hunting grounds
during the testing, which would take place two or three days every other
week, for 60 days each year. The company would also cut down all the trees
in a five-square-kilometre "impact zone" about 45 kilometres
southwest of Chapais.

Emile
Laroche, vice-president of operations at SNC Technologies, said the range
will have "almost no" effect on wildlife and the environment,
but acknowledged the blasts could be audible at 40 to 50 decibels - about
the level of a soft conversation - from five kilometres away.

Dixon
calls the range the final nail in the coffin for wildlife, already already
reeling from forestry, mining and sport hunting. "It's a very, very
sensitive area for moose. It's been a walkway for moose for centuries. My
children go through there on their four-wheelers," he said.

Dixon,
the Waswanipi representative of the Cree Trappers' Association, said 20
Dixon families have hunting camps in the vicinity of the range.
"They're really p---ed off about it."

The
nearest camp is only two kilometres away.

SNC
Technologies was bumped off its range near Nicolet in 1999 because of
concerns about the environmental impact.

The
company explored another northern Quebec site, near Parent, but regional
authorities there opposed the range because it would disrupt tourism.

The
project is becoming the latest battle over development on Cree land.
Robert Kitchen, chief of Waswanipi, gave the project a guarded thumbs-up
because it will generate jobs, but said it won't go ahead if local Cree
trappers are opposed. "We've got to respect what they want to
do."

Chibougamau
Mayor Donald Bubar disagrees, saying the land is under the jurisdiction of
the municipality of James Bay, which governs 350,000 square kilometres.
Bubar and the other non-aboriginal mayors who make up the council have
already voted for zoning to allow the range.

The
municipality and the provincial Environment Department must give final
approval.

Bubar
insisted that, in any case, Crees don't hunt there any more. "This
area is not Cree land. It is public land. Trapping is not a major, major
thing there."

That
left Dixon fuming.

"It
shows the ignorance of non-natives about our way of life. ... If it was
going to disrupt tourism somewhere else, it's definitely going to disrupt
our way of life."